Beast Tamer
by Soaring-Drag0n
Summary: This is about an OC. He was seen as an abomination and saw his family die. So now he doesn't want to get close to anyone in fear of causing more death. He has kept his gift secret for so long, but what happens once he's found out?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**A/N: This is the first time that I'm showing my work to the public, so please be gentle. I don't like flames, but some constructive criticism will be appreciated.**

**Here are the meanings of the Japanese words:**

**Bisuto- beast**

**Tsukai- tamer**

**Yajuu- beast, monster, wild animal**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but the plot and OC's of this story IS MINE!**

**Prologue**

He heard the approaching footsteps of men and looking out of his bedroom window, he saw dozens of flickering lights coming closer among the trees. He heard his father and mother talking to someone in the front of the house. A small knock at his door took his attention and turning around he saw his brother. "Hey Bisuto, we're going for a little walk," he said as he was packing some clothes for his little brother. "Where are we going?" The child asked excitedly.

His brother would always make their walks fun by turning them into some sort of game. Sometimes his brother would hide and then Bisuto's friends would help in finding him. Other times he would have to run with his brother chasing him. His favourite game was ninja where they would 'attack' each other and his brother also helped him turn into his friends.

"We are going to visit some of your friends, but you have to be real quiet, okay?" The boy nodded and whispered, "Okay," to show him how quiet he would be then followed him. They first went to the older boy's room where he took an already packed bag from his closet along with his ninja gear. When they reached the hall, he showed his little brother to wait. After making sure that the child wasn't following him, he went to look into the living room. Seeing that the intruder's back was turned, he gave his parents the signal that they were ready and leaving. He received the go ahead, but stayed for only a few more seconds to imprint the picture of his smiling mother and silent father in his mind. It took all he had not to run out and hug them. They all knew what was coming and that the chances of seeing each other again after tonight was slim, if not nonexistent. He was reluctant to leave, but he could see that the small child was becoming impatient. From there on they headed straight for the kitchen. He quickly stuffed as much travelling food in their respective bags as possible. He even included some of the boy's favourite snacks for on the way.

There was the sudden sound of chirping birds and a crash. The child started to leave, but was caught just in time. "Whoa there Little Tsukai," the boy looked up at him, "but-" "Your friends are waiting for you." That stopped him short. Then another louder crash could be heard, making the teenager jump into action once more. He quickly moved the small food cabinet at the back of the pantry away to reveal a square trapdoor underneath. Just as he lifted it a whistle resonated through the house. He ignored the child's objections as he dropped him into the smooth entrance tunnel of the underground escape route. There was no doubt that that was the enemy's signal for attack. As if on queue his mother burst through the kitchen door, "Hurry, get Bisuto out-"she was cut of by three senbon needles to her back. The ninja responsible could be seen as she fell to her knees. The boy saw his father taking the man down just before he went down the hole as well.

"Go, Bisuto. GO!" he shouted when he saw the boy was still standing there. Fear had thoroughly taken over by now so the boy ran as fast he could into the near darkness. The older teen was preparing an Earth Jutsu to block the entrance, but there were sudden noises coming from the tunnel from which they just came. "Shoot, I wasn't fast enough," it was however with great relief that he saw that it was only his father. "Quick, son, seal the tunnel. He's right behind me!" He did just that then they started running after the child. They caught up to the boy and could tell that he was having a hard time. He was panting heavily and stumbling along the roughly hewn tunnel using the side for support. The man scooped him up and placed the child on his back, "its okay Bisuto, you can rest now." Of course he did all this without losing his pace. There was rumbling and shouts behind them, a clear sign that the obstruction hadn't held. If possible the two ran even faster. They'd be able to get away if they could just reach the exit…

The boy looked around from his father's shoulder to see three men coming towards them. He tugged his father's sleeve, "Daddy! They're following us!" He didn't slow down in the least.

"Give it up! Just hand the yajuu over already and I promise we'll leave you and your son alone," a man with bloody lines on his left cheek shouted. "Do you expect me to believe that after you killed my wife," the man carrying the boy shouted back, looking slightly over his shoulder. "No, but you answering gave me enough time to do this," he said it as he threw a kunai at the running man. It embedded itself in his left calf which made him cry out from the pain and fall, causing the child to lose his grip and tumble down.

His brother snatched him up, only to put him down again a short distance away, "Bisuto you have to get out of here. Go to those wolf friends of yours. And remember, now matter what, you'll always be our Little Tsukai." There was another cry and turning around they saw their father had taken another hit.

His brother quickly left him to fight alongside their father. Seeing his son was there to cover him the man started focusing the chakra in his right hand. Just as the sparking chirping electricity appeared, one of the ninja managed to get around the teen's defences and thrust a kunai in the man's back. Paralysed with shock, the child couldn't look away, even as he saw his father fall and then his brother also went down. The teen saw him still standing there and shouted "RUN BISUTO, RUN!" before the man with the bloody mark thrust a kunai into his neck and twisted it, thus breaking the spinal cord. The boy watched as his Big Brother's eyes grew blank and unseeing. He took a few steps back, slipped and fell, scraping his hands on the rough floor.

The men were coming for him! They had murder in their eyes. As they closed in one lunged for his neck, but instinct took over and he viciously bit into the man's hand like a feral dog when it came to close, drawing blood. With a cry of pain the man violently shook him off and inspected the bloody wound. "Damn you, you little yajuu. I'll teach you not to bite people," he started kicking the boy where he lay. The other man wanted to join him but the leader stopped them, "enough, I'll end its miserable life!" The child whimpered softly while curling up into a tight ball. He was cornered with a kunai heading for his neck. Remembering his brother's fate he tried to run but was caught by the back of his shirt.

"HELP ME!"

The sheer volume of the plea caused the man to let go out of surprise and the boy took off. The leader shouted, "After him!" but they were intercepted by a mass of perhaps 20 snakes. The two men screamed when the snakes attacked, but the third avoided the onslaught and retaliated with a Wind Jutsu, blasting them away. The boy was long gone and he knew the chances of finding him again now were slim. He would just have to return and report their mission as a failure.

Through all this the boy had just kept running till he reached the exit. Once there he found a big old yew tree to hide in to avoid any more attention. Bright colours caught his eye. He wondered what was going on before finally realizing that he was watching his house burn. He couldn't find a position on his current branch that blocked out his view and no matter how he sat he could still hear the noise. He sat with his knees tucked under his chin and his hands clamped over his ears. It was so loud that he didn't realize that he was crying till he felt the warm wetness against his hands. He didn't want to move away in fear of detection. So he was forced to watch his life burn to cinders. All he could do was keep trying to stifle his sobs while he was waiting for all the people to leave, hoping that they wouldn't notice him. When he was sure they were all gone he climbed back down. As he walked among the remains, he found two pieces of his life that had miraculously survived. A photo of his family and his brother's forehead protector, though the fabric had burnt of and the metal had a few scorch marks. He quickly put the precious objects in his bag. Then, after saying one last goodbye, he turned his back on all that he had ever known and ran into the deepest, oldest part of the huge forest. He'll have to go to his other family- the wolves.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first part of my story. I can't wait to read my first reviews. **

**PS. I feel that I should warn the readers who are interested in the rest that I will probably only update once a month, though I'm not able to say whether it will be at the beginning, middle or end.**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Please take note of the following:**

"Humans talking"

_'Thinking'_

_"Animals talking"_

**Here are the meanings of the Japanese words:**

**Rin- companion**

**Bisuto- east**

**Yajuu- beast, monster, wild animal**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but the plot and OC's of this story IS MINE!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

_Six years later_

We lay in the shadows of the underbrush, waiting. We knew that deer resided in this forest; we had heard their calls ever since we arrived the previous month and now, finally, we have found a place where we could see them. We could tell that this was a frequented spot by the smell. It was really just a small clearing, but it served our purpose.

I had never actually seen a live deer, so I decided to use this opportunity to meet one. As with all animals I had to see how it moved before I could change into it. Plus I need practice before I could completely master any new animal. It was vital for me to be able to turn into a deer since we were near civilization and they were obviously an indigenous species. Whereas wolves were not. I was afraid that some human might see us and think we were a threat. It has happened before and the resulting hunt had left me with a limp for two weeks. _'I still don't know how that farmer had managed to sneak up on me.'_

My thoughts were interrupted by a rustling sound and I immediately snapped to attention. Then a deer peered out from among the trees to our left. He was hesitant at first, but after sniffing the air he came out completely. He was rather big in accordance to what I had expected and he had magnificent antlers that took my breath away. I was a little intimidated by him, but then I remembered why I was there in the fist place. After taking a deep breath to calm my nerves I stood up and slowly stepped into the clearing.

He's head snapped up from where he was grazing, ears swivelling around, _"Who's there?"_ I walked into the open and saw his body tense. Then I took another step closer and just as I was about to speak, he bolted while shouting,_ "PREDATOR!"_

I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. It's been at least ten minutes now and he hasn't slowed down. He was going to get away and all because of my impatience. Though, in hind sight, it probably wasn't very smart to approach a deer as a wolf. Unfortunately I didn't have an herbivore which is why I had approached the deer in the first place.

Then it happened; it was faint, but the deer was starting to show signs of fatigue. I gave Rin, the wolf running a few feet from me, a signal and he ran ahead while I herded the deer to our designated ambush spot. I was glad to have had the foresight of setting it up for this exact situation.

We reached the slight depression. It was really just a dip in the forest floor with a rock formation looking over it on one side. In his haste the deer didn't notice the crouched form on the top. The wolf jumped when the deer was beneath him. He tried to buck but instead he's legs gave way from the added weight and he went down. "_No, no, no,_" the deer tried to get up but he just no longer had the strength, "_please make it quick._" I changed back and crouched by his head. "Don't worry friend, we mean you no harm." He lifted his head to get a better view of me, "_then why did you chase me?_" I offered him my hand for a sniff, "I wanted to talk with you, but I wasn't sure on how you'd react to a human." He was cautious of Rin when he stood up, but at least he didn't run away again.

"_That is understandable. What about him?"_ he eyed Rin warily. I laughed, "Don't worry, he's with me." He relaxed, but stood so that I was between him and the wolf. Sensing his discomfort I asked Rin to leave. _"So what is it that you wish of me little one?"_

I immediately launched into an explanation of my ability and the reason why I wanted to be able to turn into a deer. He accepted and offered me a place in the herd. "Yes thank you very much. I'd love to stay with the rest of the herd." He nodded, _"Very well then. I should warn you that there are humans who take care of us."_ This interested me, "What do you mean?" _"They feed us when there isn't enough food and heal us when we're sick. They also gather our antlers once we shed them."_ This had me thinking,_ 'maybe there are more people like my family."_

When Rin showed up I knew it was time to leave, "I'm sorry I have to go now. A human is coming. I'll come to the herd later tonight." With that I quickly turned into a squirrel and took to the trees, going after Rin.

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><p>It's been another month now. The deer accepted me into the herd pretty easily and were helpful with my learning. One of the does especially coddled me. I was later told that it was because her fawn was stillborn. I managed the form eventually and after two weeks I could run and leap around just as easily as any of them.<p>

The mornings went by differently. There was some sort of school in the village and I would disguise myself as a woodpecker to hide in one of the trees by the windows. Mostly they stayed inside, but at other times the instructors would take classes outside for training. The children would practice in throwing weapons or performing a martial arts sequence. I always tried to remember the moves then repeat them later in the forest. I found the basic ones which the smallest children were doing the easiest. I think the reason for this was because it was similar to what my father was teaching me before he died. The moves of the bigger children, however, were difficult. It was during another failed attempt to keep my balance that Rin decided to check up on me. He chuckled when he saw me fall again, _"I can't see why you are so set on learning this. It's not like you're going to join them. Besides isn't it about time for us to move on? You've already mastered the deer."_ Deciding to take a rest, I walked over to a nearby stream for a drink.

"I know you're concerned Rin, but I have a valid reason for staying. These people have the same weapons as the men who killed my family. If I can learn their fighting style I'll be able to protect myself from them if the need arises. You know that I can't stay in my animal forms all the time, not unless I eat their food for energy. Sure I don't mind the pellets that boy's been giving the deer these past few days, but I can't keep going with them. I think he's starting to suspect something. Yesterday it was a man who brought the food." Rin nodded, _"Okay, but-"_ he was interrupted by a frantic doe crashing out of the wood. _"Bisuto! Rin! You have to get out of here! There are three men walking around in the forest,"_ she looked at me specifically, _"I think they're searching for you."_

I cursed under my breath,_ 'I don't have enough energy to change right now. I'll have to make a run for it as I am.' _Out loud I said, "Thank you for everything you've done for me." After that we ran down wind as fast as I could go in my current state. I was still tired and sore from practicing. I knew that I was starting to slow, but I couldn't stop. After a while Rin informed me that he could smell them on the wind. _"I'm going back to stall them."_ I almost tripped, "What? No, they'll kill you!" Unwanted memories of a dark tunnel and dead bodies flashed through my mind. I grabbed him around the neck, "Please Rin, don't go. I don't want to lose another brother." _"I'm sorry Bisuto,"_ he licked my cheek,_ "I promised mother I'd protect you."_ Slipping out of my embrace he ran towards the humans. I nearly started to cry, but there was a sudden howl. Hearing Rin's howl gave me the strength to carry on and so I ran in the opposite direction for all that I was worth.

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><p>I knew the chances of Bisuto going on without me were slim so I gave a quick howl to encourage him. Then I heard the voices of the humans. "Did you guys hear that…What was it Shikaku…Don't know, most likely some sort of animal." Then they came into view. Two of the men seemed to be in good shape. The first had blond hair tied up in a long tail, it seemed like he was focusing on something. While the second had blackish-brown hair in a spiky tail. He had an incredibly lazy look on his face, like he'd rather be some where else. The last member of their pack surprised me; he was fat with strange marks on his face and wild red hair. To top it all of he was clearly more interested in the food he was eating than what was going on around him. The spiky tailed one suddenly spoke, "Man what a drag. First we have to find this new deer and now there's some animal running wild in the forest. Yo Inoichi you got anything yet?" He looked over at the blond. "I think so. Just after those deer came looking for food the two chakra signatures split up. One is still headed in the same direction as before, but the other weaker one is close…" I didn't bother to keep listening, I was confused. <em>'How can this be? We were moving downwind so they're not supposed to be able to follow us. How can he now that I'm here if I'm hidden?'<em> They were clearly more alert than they seemed.

Coming to a decision I stepped into their path, _"What do you want with Bisuto? Why are you looking for him?"_ It was more of a demand than a question. They stopped to look at me._ 'Good at least I have their attention.'_ Then I realized that they weren't simply looking, but studying. "I bet that this dog is what made that howl," this came from the blond. The fat one answered, "It sure doesn't look like any dog I've ever seen. You reckon it's a new Inuzuka hound breed Shikaku?" "Hm, could be, but wouldn't we have heard about it if one of their dogs ran away? I'm thinking that it belongs to the person we're after."

I gave them a warning growl, _"You're going to have to go through me if you want to reach Bisuto and how dare you call me a mere dog!"_ Their stances became more aggressive and the lazy one said, "Careful guys we don't know what it's capable of. Choza, Inoichi keep it busy while I try to get it with my jutsu." The others nodded then came at me from both sides. I quickly turned and ran. My plan was to lead them on a wild goose chase away from Bisuto. Then once they were wary I would attack. I knew from experience with Bisuto that humans didn't have the same endurance level as wolves. Something shiny flew over head and landed with a _thunk_ a few paces before me. It looked like a strange knife. I tried to go around, but more landed beside it, blocking my path. I backed away a bit, planning to jump over them instead. Something hard hit my left side. It didn't really hurt, but came as a surprise. Turning around to investigate I found a wooden ball with a piece of what Bisuto calls paper stuck to it. The thing suddenly exploded into a blinding white light. Now I was really confused; I couldn't see and in my haste to get away I ran into a tree and yelped in surprise. My vision started coming back, but for some reason I couldn't move. When I could see again the fat man was busy tying my paws together. Now matter how hard I tried, I wasn't able to move my head in order to bite him. I was starting to get scared now. Some force was keeping me down. As the man moved to my back legs I saw a black line stretching from me and following it with my eyes, I found it leading straight to the lazy one. He stood in an odd way with his hands forming a strange sign. It looked like he was trying to copy Bisuto's hand sign for changing, though he was doing it wrong. The blond man crouched by my head and gently bound my muzzle as well. I was completely at their mercy now. Finding I could move again I managed to roll over into the submissive position and gave a quiet whine to try to appeal to them. The lazy one held his hand out for me to smell while he stroked the top of my head, "Don't worry big guy, we're not going to hurt you. Choza do you mind carrying him back to the house? Me and Inoichi will be back shortly with his master." The fat man carefully picked me up and started walking away. I tried to struggle, but my focus was slipping and pretty soon sleep engulfed me.

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><p>I couldn't believe that I was reliving the worst experience of my life. I was running away while someone else was protecting me, again. I was no better than a newborn pup that can't do anything for itself.<p>

Not able to run anymore, I decided to stop. If I'm going to have to fight, I might as well regain a bit of my strength first.

As if on queue a blond man came from the bushes in front of me. "Hey you're just a kid! Heh, here I thought we were going to face a full fledged ninja. I gotta hand it to you, that dog of yours surprised us." I charged at him enraged, "What did you do to Rin? Where is he?" The next thing I knew I was on the ground with him sitting on me. He was holding my arms behind me, "Relax, your friend's fine. We put him to sleep before any harm could be done. Now, are you going to come quietly or do we have to put you to sleep as well?" I stopped struggling. It would be better to learn what I could about this village rather than be unconscious. _'I just hope that Rin is all right…where ever he is.'_

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><p><strong>AN: I hope you like it. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Please take note of the following:**

"Humans talking"

_'Thinking'_

_"Animals talking"_

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but the plot and OC's of this story IS MINE!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 2<p>

The blond man bound my arms for the sake of 'protocol' as he called it. Another man had showed up in the meantime. He was clearly bored. It took me a moment to recognize him, "Hey you're that guy!" He looked at me, "Do I know you?" I simply smiled and said, "You fed us yesterday. I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the deer, they really appreciate what you people are doing for them. It's a big help during the winter months."

He merely shook his head, not understanding how I knew all that, but I didn't mind. Humans didn't know about my ability and even the few that I explained it to couldn't completely grasp the concept unless I showed them.

We were walking along the wider trail that led to the village. I've only gone there once. It was starting to get cold so I had taken some clothes through a window that had been left open one morning. It was needed for the periods where I wasn't in an animal form. For some reason my animal pelts would also change with the seasons.

We finally reached a building. As they led me around it, I looked through a window and saw that it was a house. The room I saw was the kitchen. A woman was standing there with a ladle in one hand and the boy who had been feeding us in front of her. It seemed like she was busy reprimanding him. His eyes widened when he saw me, but his attention quickly returned to the woman. _'She must be his mom,'_ I looked back to the dark haired man in front of me once we passed,_ 'and this guy is his dad.'_

I could see a tower in the distance. As we walked the people would stop what they were doing to look at me. Some would only give me a glance while others looked on with great curiosity. I was very confused now. Usually when I get caught out, the men of the village would come to chase me away, shouting yajuu or bisuto at my retreating figure. I figured that they were taking me to the leader for judgement.

We stopped in the middle of a market. The man before me turned, "Okay, don't freak out now. My friend here is going to place you under a mild genjutsu while he takes you to interrogation." I eyed him, "It won't hurt, will it?" The blond man spoke and I turned to look at him, "No, I'm only going to numb your senses. You just won't be able to hear, see, feel, taste or smell anything for a while. Then I'll be asking you a few questions, okay?" I was a little unsure about the 'numb my senses' part, but decided to trust him, "Um…okay."

I very nearly panicked. He had warned me, but I wasn't expecting anything like this. In a sense it was like sleeping and being awake at the same time. I was only aware of my breathing so I focused on it to keep me calm.

After what seemed like ages, my senses became clear. I rushed to take everything in at once. It was a plain, windowless room with only a table and two chairs in the middle. I was placed in one of these chairs while the blonde sat in the other. "Okay, I'm going to look into your memories to make sure we can trust you. It won't hurt as long as you don't resist, understand?" I didn't like the idea of letting him in my head. There were a few things I'd rather keep to myself, but if it helps in earning their trust, I'd do it. "Right," I said with a slight nod.

He made a hand sign and concentrated then suddenly I found myself reliving my memories.

**Flashback**

I was in the playroom of the orphanage. My only friends had just been taken away by their new parents, now I was alone again. The other children were too big and didn't want to play the same games as me. While trying to think of something to do, I saw a mouse running into the room. It ran towards the toy box and tried to climb up the side. My attention was drawn to the door once more when I saw the orphanage cat slip into the room. She looked around, before spotting the mouse and silently slinking towards it. The desperate attempts of the mouse got to me so I went and held my hand out next to it, "Come, I hide you." It looked up at me before taking a slight step forwards, but the cat jumped at that exact moment. When I saw the mouse disappear under the cat's paws I flung myself at her, beating my fists on her side. "No, Bad cat, leave mousy alone!" She yowled and jumped away in surprise before facing me. She stared at me with an incredulous look, _"but if I don't catch mice I don't get food. They'll throw me out."_ Her tone was pleading. I looked at the mouse which was now cowering below me, "Mousy no come here," I pointed to the cat, "I don't want cat to catch and if cat don't catch, she get chased away." The mouse nodded frantically before replying, _"I'll stay away."_ I gave a satisfied nod and picked him up. He gave a squeak then released that I was taking him to the open window. Placing him on the window sill, I told him, "and tell mousy friends to stay away to." After more frantic nodding he was gone.

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The orphanage cat lay beside me on the bed as I stroked her. She became my new best friend after the mouse incident and had introduced herself as Momo when I asked her real name. I didn't want to keep calling her cat because that would have been rude. She sort of adopted me and decided to help me learn since the grown-ups weren't doing a good enough job in educating us in her opinion and I've learned a lot of new words since then. I also found out that I can talk to any animal, not just Momo.

I quickly learned that the other children didn't like me talking to animals. They would tease me with names like 'animal-boy' and 'weirdo'. The grown-ups simply ignored the stories at first, but then one of them saw me talking with some newly hatched ducklings. The woman came over and asked me what I was doing, so I told her that I was warning the ducklings to stay away from cats. She merely nodded her head then quickly went back inside.

Shortly afterwards that they started whispering among themselves whenever they thought I wasn't looking.

This was actually the reason for Momo's visit, "You need to watch yourself my Little One. The adults have taken note of your strangeness and they have very different ways of dealing with oddities such as yourself. If you're not careful they may chase you away."

"I know, I know. I want to be a cat like you Momo. Then I'll be able to go where I want, when I want and do what I want without everyone looking at me like there's something wrong with me."

I said it without putting any real thought into it, I_ wanted _it. Then suddenly I felt… different. I could feel something flow through me for a moment and Momo gave a gasp, "Little One, what did you do?" I looked at her, "Why what's wrong?" She used her paw to point to the old cracked mirror on the shelf opposite my bed, "I think you should see for yourself." I got it down by standing on the upturned wooden box which I use for the few clothes I have. Looking in it, I was met with the slit pupils of a cat in my grey-green eyes and found big furry cat ears instead of my usual round human ones. I reached up with one hand to make sure they were there and indeed, I met fur. It even hurt when I pulled them. I put the mirror back before going to sit on my bed again. Feeling something under me I moved to take it out, but my hand once face. It was a thin grey and black striped tail with a black tip.

I looked to Momo, "Am I turning into a cat?"

She studied me for a moment, "Hmm, I don't think so. No. I think you tried to, but the transformation didn't turn out quite right. It's possible that this is another one of your special talents. We must make sure not to let any of the adults see you. They will definitely throw you out."

As if called, the door opened to reveal one of the caretakers. She gave me one look then let the bowl of food she was brining fall and ran. "I knew it! Come look, he's really just an animal trying to trick us," I heard her shout from the kitchen.

I was struck with fear as I heard the other grown-ups coming up the stairs. I tried changing back, but nothing happened. I saw Momo jump on the windowsill, _"Here Little One, climb down the tree!" _I went for the window, "Where do you think you're going?" I froze as I felt someone grab my tail and pull me to them. I gave a cry of pain and frantically tried to remove his hand with my own small ones, but to no avail. "Hn, well what do you know, she's right. You do look like some sort of animal. Lucky we caught you now, who knows what you could have done to the smaller children if we let you grow up here." Through all this he was carrying me to the shed beside the gate to the orphanage.

Once there he tied a rope to my ankle and the other end to one of the support beams. "Since we can't just kill you, you'll be staying here till we figure out what to do with you."

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I felt terrible. Sure, the grown-ups still bought me food, but they no longer showed me to potential parents and the children wouldn't come near me.

I had figured out how to look normal again and with a lot of practice learned that I could change completely into a cat. Of course I would only do this in the night time once I was sure now one would barge in on me. It was hard to get used to walking on four legs and needed some help from Momo with my coordination.

I was already given food for the night so I knew no one was going to come out again till morning. As I changed my attention was drawn to the window when I heard the gate open with my more catlike hearing. Quickly reversing the transformation, I took a peek outside. There, in some of the last rays of the sun stood a couple. I could immediately see that there was something different to them. The woman looked in my direction and I quickly ducked. _'The grown-ups haven't seen them yet, maybe I can convince them to take me,'_ building up my courage I opened the door and started towards them with a smile on my face like I saw the other children do when they met new parents.

I didn't get far though. Three steps from the door the rope around my ankle grew taught and I had to stop, so instead I called out to them. "Hallo!" Both turned to me and the woman spoke, "Hi there. Why are you out here all on your own?" They came closer and I moved back a bit to hide my tied ankle behind the door. "I'm not allowed inside anymore. The grown-ups said that they're keeping me here till they figure out what to do with me." The woman threw the man a glance and he gave a nod before heading for the front door. She stayed however and studied me once more, "Why don't you come here so I can get a better look at you?"

I simply nodded afraid how she would react to the rope. Watching her, I saw her eyes widen with shock, and then narrow in anger. As I walked closer she drew some sort off knife and reached for me, "Don't be afraid I'm going to cut you lose." I watched in amazement as she did just that. I gave her a slight bow, "Thank you lady." She smiled and ruffled my hair. "Don't worry about it, but why on earth were you tied up?" I thought about telling her, but Momo interrupted me just as I was about to speak. _"Just show her. I believe she can be trusted."_ I nodded towards her then turned once more to the nice lady, "Please don't tell anyone I showed you." She wanted to say something, but her mouth shut when I started to shrink. A few minutes later I crawled out of the bottom of my shirt as a grey and black striped cat with yellow eyes, the sun's final rays making it seem like they were glowing.

The woman gently picked me up and held me to her face, "Is it really you?" I nodded vigorously to emphasize my answer as yes then pointedly looked to the ground. Catching my drift she put me back down. I made quick work of dragging my clothes into the shed.

While redressing I heard approaching voices and I took a peek from the window. It was the man with the person in charge of the orphanage. He sounded angry, "I don't care what you say he did, he's still just a child and you don't treat a child like this," he pointed to the shed. "Sir you must understand, he's not normal-" He was cut off by the woman when she turned to her husband, "Let's take him. These people clearly don't know a thing about caring for children and he needs a family that understands how gifted he is." She was indirectly telling him my secret and what's more, she had approved of it! Even going so far as calling it a gift! I ran out to hug her leg. I didn't care that I didn't know her. This friendly lady was the first one to say something nice about me since my friends went to their new homes.

The owner of orphanage, however, was less than pleased and grew angry, "Where is the rope that bound him? It must not be removed, he's dangerous!" The woman turned on him, her previous anger from seeing the rope restored, "What has he done that's so dangerous that you need to keep him in isolation and tied down with a rope!" He held his hands up, "Now ma'am, please calm down. It's not what he has done, but what he could do when given free rein. For you see, he is actually a beast that's trying to trick you into thinking its human. You can believe me; I've seen the beast's tail and slit pupils for myself!"

Her husband stood silently to the side through all this, but seeing his wife's fists begin to shake, he quickly, yet gently, took me from her side and into his arms.

"Really you see a beast? Then you should get your eyes checked 'because all I see is a scared, lonely little boy." With that she took me from the other man's arms then faced the owner again, "We will come to fill in the adoption papers tomorrow morning. I will not be held responsible for my actions if I stay here any longer. Goodnight." After that she turned and promptly walked away with me still in her arms.

After a while I noticed the man following us, but what caught my attention was Momo trotting towards us. I tapped the woman's shoulder, "Will you please put me down?" She complied and watched as I walked to the orphanage cat. She bowed her head, _"Goodbye my Little One and good luck!"_ I gave her a final farewell stroke as unshed tears clouded my vision, "Goodbye Momo and thank you for being my friend."

I turned back to the couple and grasped their outstretched hands with my own, walking between them to my new home while happy and sad tears rolled down my cheeks.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I was lying in my bed, unable to get over the excitement of finally learning how to jump from tree to tree as a squirrel. Hearing noises outside, I peered out the window and was mystified by the flickering lights moving through the trees-

**Flashback end**

'_NO!'_

My head started to hurt as the memory tried to resurface again and again, but I pushed it back down each time.

'_PLEASE! Any one, any memory but THAT ONE!'_

My head was throbbing now and my defence was slipping. Images of a seemingly never ending tunnel and a roaring fire was brought to my mind's eye.

'_I SAID NO!_'

Suddenly I was taken by blackness.

* * *

><p>Inoichi came back to his own body with a groan and a slight headache. "Man, this kid's sure got a lot of fight in him." He studied him for a moment when there was a knock on the door, "enter!" It opened to reveal an ANBU with a cat mask, "Lord Hokage wishes to know if you are done and asks that you come to see him immediately once you're finished." "You may tell him that that I'll be there shortly," the ANBU gave a quick nod then disappeared. Inoichi glanced at the boy again before calling the high chuunin on guard duty. "What happened to him?" He asked as he took in the sight of the unconscious boy. Inoichi shook his head, "He went for complete mental shutdown. We won't get any more from him today." He watched as the chuunin carefully picked the boy up, "So what now?"<p>

"Best let him rest, and then we'll take him to the Hokage tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Hiruzen Sarutobi had seen and heard a lot of things in his long years of being the Third Hokage of Konoha, The Village Hidden in the Leaves. He prized his extensive library on almost every subject imaginable and some even called him The Professor because of his vast knowledge.<p>

So it was understandably surprising to see him surprised.

The reason for his surprise today was a 10-11 year old boy who was found in the Nara forest, with a dog of some sort according to the reports given to him by the witnesses. He had gone to see this 'dog' and after comparing it with several encyclopaedias, he can safely say that it was anything but. After conferring with the Inuzuka clan head, Tsume, they have come to the conclusion that it must be a wolf. This bought questions; why was it here if wolves hadn't been seen in the Land of Fire for nearly eighty years, were there more and what is its connection to the boy?

The Hokage was taken from his thoughts by a knock at the door, "Yes?" He was pleased to see it was Inoichi Yamanaka. He bowed, "Lord Hokage."

"Come now Inoichi, have a seat," he waited for the man to get comfortable, "so what can you tell me about our little intruder?"

Inoichi seemed to contemplate what he was going to say before answering, "from the little that I've seen I'd have to say that there's no way he could be a threat to the village." The old Kage frowned, "please explain?"

"I managed to view two distinct memories from when he was perhaps four years old, but when I went for one from where he was older the boy started to fight me. I only managed a glimpse at the thing before his mind automatically went into complete mental shutdown. I'm afraid I won't be able to dig deeper without risking permanent damage to the boy's cognitive abilities."

The Hokage nodded, "I see, and what were you able to discern from the little that you've seen?"

After a moment's hesitation he said, "He spent his first four years in an orphanage before a couple adopted him. The orphanage personnel treated him like an animal after he showed signs of a strange ability. Lord Hokage, this child is extraordinary. I do believe that we have stumbled onto a Kekke Genkai."

Old Sarutobi nearly let go of his pipe, "A Kekke Genkai! Are you sure?"

"Positive. He understands animals and is capable of turning into any animal of his choice as far as I can tell and I don't mean like a transformation jutsu. He actually changes his physical body though it seems like he needs practice before he can master it."

"Where is he now?"

"Sleeping in one of the recovery rooms of the I&T Department. He'll be ready to see you tomorrow mid-morning at the earliest."

"Right, we'll see to that once we get there. Thank you for your help and I want your own full report on my desk tomorrow morning. You may leave now, goodnight. "

"Of course, Lord Hokage. Goodnight." With that he left the office, missing the Third's thoughtful expression as he puffed on his pipe.

"I wonder…"

* * *

><p>I had a bit of a headache when I woke up, but forgot about it as soon as I realised I wasn't in the forest. I very nearly panicked before remembering the previous day's events. This only caused me to worry because I haven't seen Rin yet.<p>

Hearing someone by the door, I quickly got in position by the window. If I needed to escape that would be my best route. My chakra had replenished and all previous muscle fatigue was gone, so I was ready for both fight and flight.

It opened to reveal the same blonde who had delved in my memories yesterday. I relaxed, but only slightly. "You said it wouldn't hurt!" The man sighed, "No, I said it wouldn't hurt as long as you don't resist, remember?"

I was about to talk back, but then realised that those were in fact his words, "Okay fine, but you really had no business looking at that." He nodded, "Don't worry; I won't try again, though I must take you to the Hokage now that you've woken up. He wishes to speak with you."

This made me think. _'Hmm, this Hokage must be the leader and it's always better to face another alpha with back-up.'_ Coming to a decision I straightened up and looked him in the eye, "I'll talk to the Hokage on two conditions; I want Rin back and he stays with me." The blonde nodded, "That is acceptable. I'll just have to place you under another genjutsu before I can take you to him."

Fifteen minutes later we arrived at what I could only describe as a madhouse. A handful of dogs were running around in the yard while three children maybe a year older than me were trying to put their leashes on for the upcoming walk. A girl with her hair in two tight buns managed to corner one of them and put a leash on it only for the dog to run away again when the rest of the pack rushed by, followed by a green clad boy. "Lee! What did you do that for? I had him!" The boy didn't seem to hear her, "Yosh! Ten-Ten these dogs sure are youthful today," they were approached by a pale eyed boy who had all the dogs on their leashes, including the girl's runaway. The boy in green noticed, "Ah, Neji! Thank you for your most youthful help with the dogs. They are most certainly the embodiment of the spirit of youth this fine day." The other boy merely gave a quick nod before handing the other two a few dogs. After that they left.

Another few minutes passed before we met with a big woman who had red rectangular marks on her cheeks and a big grey dog by her side. She and my guide talked quietly for a moment before she looked at me, summing me up, "So you're the squirt he keeps asking for? We really must talk sometime, I'd love to learn more about him, but he refused to talk."

I blinked, "You can understand him?" She started walking to our left while answering, "Of course, we're the Inuzuka clan boy. A clan known for fighting alongside their canine partners. For proper teamwork to take place we must be able to communicate with our dogs. We even created our jutsu in a way that it works in tandem with our partners."

We finally came to an enclosed area with a 'CLANMEMBERS ONLY' sign on the gate. She gestured for me to enter, "He's right through here. We had to keep him separate from the dogs since he's a little aggressive."

I hurried inside, _'I'll only believe him to be alive once I've seen him.'_

* * *

><p>I've been in this strange place for two days. They gave me food and water, but I refused to take it. The big woman who also had strange marks on her face had encouraged me to eat and drink, but I would just demand to see Bisuto or ignore her. Whenever the younger dogs showed interest in me I'd growl and they'd run away with their tails between their legs.<p>

The only almost respectable canine around was the grey dog who followed the woman. He has clearly been in a lot of fights, with even a scar over his right eye, but instead of displaying his battle scars proudly, he keeps it hidden behind a patch like humans.

So basically I respected him for his fighting strength, but despised him for hiding his pride.

I heard approaching footsteps and the voice of the big woman, "He's right through here. We had to keep him separate from the dogs since he's a little aggressive."

'_Great, more humans who've come to stare. Maybe I should use this opportunity to escape and find Bisuto. Then we can finally go away from this place.'_ I crept up to just behind a dirt mound with a few bushes clinging to it. It was a bit to the right of the gate, meaning I'd have a clear shot once it opened. Hearing the familiar creaking, I started running towards my freedom, only to stop in my tracks, for blocking my path was none other than Bisuto.

First I thought it to be a trick. Bisuto had told me that they were able to make some sort of illusions called genjutsu from what he's seen in that building. Though, when a breeze picked up it became clear that it was in fact him. _'After all, your nose never lies.'_

I jumped on him and started licking his face before he even knew what was happening. _"Bisuto! I was so worried,"_ I pulled back to look him in the eye, _"I am NOT leaving your side again, ever."_

He scratched me between my ears, "Me neither Rin, no matter what."

Bisuto then stood up and turned to the gate, "I'm ready to see the Hokage now."

* * *

><p>Truthfully, if Rin wasn't with me I would have been much more nervous. We were now walking along a corridor in the same tower that I saw the other day. I could tell that Rin was on edge with the enclosed space, but we drew comfort from each other.<p>

Our blonde haired guide led us all the way up till we reached a door. He turned to us and said, "Please wait here," before knocking and entering.

"_Why knock if he's going to go in anyway?" _Rin looked at me curiously. I gave him a slight thump on the head. "It's called being polite. I guess you could say that he's asking for permission or warning the person on the other side that he's coming. Now, you have to behave. We're going to talk to their alpha. So no aggressive moves, understand?" He nodded, _"Right!"_

Just then the door opened and the blonde stepped out, "You may enter."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry for being so late, but this has got to be the longest thing I have ever written. The word count for this chap is 4 744!**

**Please review**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**A/N: Please take note of the following:**

"Humans talking"

_'Thinking'_

_"Animals talking"_

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but the plot and OC's of this story IS MINE!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 3<p>

I was very pleased to find that windows covered the back wall of the room we entered. _'Good, I'll be able to fly away if things take a turn for the worst. Rin will have to take a few jumps, but he'll manage.'_

Only when he moved, did I see the old man sitting by a desk in front of the big windows. He wore a plain white robe along with a wide brimmed hat with the kanji for fire on the front in red. Except for the sides, which were also red, the rest of the hat was white along with shoulder length material that only revealed his face.

Speaking of which, he had a short white beard and was all wrinkly. _"Pht, he's too old to still be an alpha. I'm surprised no one's challenged him yet. Or if they have, then the whole lot of them are weak."_ I gave him a slight bump with my leg and whispered through a quiet hiss, "I told you, be polite."

Rin gave me an indignant look, _"Well it's not like he can understand me."_ This time I gave him a thump on the head, "That still doesn't mean that you-"

A slight cough interrupted me. Looking up and found that the man had lit a pipe while he waited. Facing him completely, I gave a quick bow, "Sorry!" He merely took a puff from his pipe, "Don't worry about it. Do you mind telling me what he said?"

I hung my head a bit, "Well he thinks you're too old to be the head of the pack and wonders why no one has challenged you yet." Of course I said nothing about them being weak; I didn't want to risk offending the man.

He looked thoughtful for a moment, "I see. What is his name?" This took me by surprise, but answered, "Rin, sir." I then watched in surprise as he turned to Rin and spoke directly to him, "Let me explain. In a hidden village the strongest ninja in said village is chosen to be the leader. When the time comes that leader must then chose his/her successor. I had already chosen someone, but he died. So you see Rin, at the moment, I am still the strongest fighter around. Don't let my age fool you."

I could only stare. Someone was actually talking _to_ Rin instead of using me as a go-between. He was doing more than just talking, he was acknowledging him. In the few times that I have introduced him to other humans no one has treated him like this, like an equal, except my family. To put it simply, I was impressed. Rin, however, was seemingly speechless.

He blinked a few times before looking at me, _"These humans may have strange ways, but this one has earned my respect. I say we hear what he has to say."_

The old leader looked at me quizzically so I elaborated, "He appreciates your effort of explaining things directly to him, whereas others often don't see him as intelligent enough to understand."

He nodded his head knowingly, "Ah, yes. The Inuzuka's also have that same problem at times with the civilians. But enough of that, come sit. I'd like to find out a bit more about you."

I eyed him warily, "I'm not allowing anyone in my head again."

He chuckled, "Don't worry, that won't happen again." I took the seat opposite him while Rin lay down behind me, "So what do you want?"

He took another puff, "I believe introductions should come first. I am Hiruzen Sarutobi. The third Hokage of Konoha, also known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves. What's your name?"

"Bisuto Tsukai sir," I said.

"Interesting, if I may, how did you get such a name?"

I grew a little nervous, but tried not to show it, "Well, where I come from people would call me a beast because of what I do, so I decided to take that name and make it my own. As for the last…" I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself then felt Rin rest his head on my lap. It gave me the strength to carry on, "My brother gave me the nickname 'Little Tsukai' for the same reason and I guess it just stuck."

"So, Bisuto what were you doing in the Nara forest?"

"I was only passing through, I didn't mean to cause any trouble. Honest!"

He lifted his hand, "Calm yourself, you didn't do anything wrong. You said your passing through, where are you headed?"

"Nowhere in particular, I just travel through the land looking for a permanent home."

The Hokage nodded in understanding and was silent for a few moments, "How would you like to stay in the village. I'm sure we'll be able to arrange accommodation for you and Rin in the Inuzuka compound."

"Oh um, thank you for the offer sir, but we'll much rather stay in the forest. I prefer being amongst animals since they are more accepting of my… talents and Rin doesn't like other humans all that much." I tried saying it as nicely as possible, for I really had no wish to leave the safety of the isolation that I've known for years. If I settled here I would run the risk of making friends and thus endangering others.

The man took another few puffs, seemingly thinking, "What if I can give you a place to stay near the forest and away from the crowded areas of the village. No one will bother you and you'll just have to take a short walk and you'll be amongst the trees. I can also arrange for you to be placed in the Academy. That way, once you graduate, you can earn money by serving the village as one of our ninja. What do you say?"

'_This is amazing.'_ Truly, I was stumped. He was offering me, a complete stranger, shelter in his village free of charge and the only thing I had to do was join this Academy and become one of the ninja. I looked to Rin. After all this would affect him as well, "What do you think?" He met my gaze, _"I say we stay. It's not every day that an alpha welcomes you into their pack."_

I nodded then looked back at the Hokage, "We'll take it!"

* * *

><p>Yes, I trust Bisuto's judgement, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I agree with everything he does. After he and the old leader had their talk the man had him write on a few papers then they talked some more. It was the direction this conversation was taking that didn't sit well with me. Bisuto was currently explaining his transformations.<p>

The alpha was listening intently and once he finished asked a single question, "Would you mind showing me?"

Bisuto seemed to consider the request, then nodded, stood and walked to the middle of the room. I quickly got up to stop him, _"Something isn't right here Bisuto. He's taking this to calmly compared to the others you've told. Become a bird then you can escape should it be a trap."_

He inclined his head to me, "Yes Rin, I know." Then he looked back to the man, "Please don't be alarmed. I'm going to become a woodpecker. I'm going to change slowly to give you a better idea of what happens." After that he removed his shirt, dropped it and started the change.

I kept my eyes on the leader while Bisuto shrunk. He had stood up and was now circling Bisuto with curiosity as the feathers started sprouting from his head, moving down his back like a wave. He was hidden by his pants by the time the feathers reached his arms. Though I didn't need to see him to know what was happening; his arms and legs morphing into different shapes and his feet melding and splitting to form small claw-tipped toes for gripping bark while his mouth and nose fused together to become a beak. Then lastly came the feathers which formed his wings and tail. As if on cue, Bisuto hopped from the folds of his pants as a green woodpecker.

He gave small meaningless chirps before taking off towards the old man. Bisuto hovered in front of him for a bit before flying around the room three times. After that he came to rest on the man's hat and looked at him upside down with another chirp, "_Do you understand?_" The leader moved to take him of, but stopped when I gave a warning growl. Bisuto turned to me, "_No Rin, it's alright. I feel that we can trust him. These people aren't like the others, they understand._" He then hopped onto the offered hand, even letting the man stroke his wings. The sight reminded me of the commanding, yet gentle woman who cared for me among the dogs. _'Perhaps you are right Bisuto. Perhaps these strange humans do understand.'_

* * *

><p>The old Sarutobi was dumbfounded to say the least. It was almost unbelievable to him that the almost emerald coloured bird perched on his left hand was the same scrawny 10-11 year old boy who had walked into his office mere minutes ago.<p>

The bird was about 30 cm in length, with bright green wings and tail, a black mustache and crown, gray head, neck, and chest, and white under parts with black markings.

He flew back and landed by his clothes. He then changed back. Only when he started to put the clothes back on did the Hokage notice that the pieces looked strangely familiar. "Bisuto, where did you get those clothes?"

He asked kindly so as not to scare the boy. It was clear that the child hadn't had proper human contact for years and according to Inoichi something happened in Bisuto's past which was so traumatizing that it caused him to become wary of other humans. At least that was the theory.

The boy bowed his head, seemingly ashamed, "Well, I took them through an open window last week. It's starting to get a little cold outside during the night," Bisuto quickly looked back up, "but I promise I was going to put them back once I left." The old Kage nodded in understanding, "Don't worry Bisuto. I'll see to it that some clothes are bought to your home as well. After all we can't have you freeze to death."

He was taken from his thoughts by the boy's expectant gaze, "What now?"

The Hokage gave a slight wave with his right hand and the cat masked ANBU appeared beside him. Both the boy and his wolf partner were visibly surprised. The wolf quickly stood up with a low growl while Bisuto was just as fast in going to stand by his side, both taking on aggressive stances.

The old man gave a mirthful chuckle, "Calm yourselves. He's just one of my elite ANBU guards, you may call him Cat. He will be showing you to your new living quarters and keeping an eye on you for a while for in case something happens."

The wolf made something akin to a snort which was followed by a few yaps and a bark or two. The boy gave him another small bump with his leg and a whispered 'be quiet' could be heard. He then gave a quick bow to the Hokage, "Thank you for your trouble sir. It's very much appreciated." After a little nudge from the boy the wolf gave an almost inaudible growl before also bowing with a reluctant sounding yep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: For those who are interested, Bisuto changed into a Japanese green woodpecker. I only changed the description from Wikipedia a bit to make him unique, I'll be doing it with all his animal forms.**

**Please tell me what you think, I'm starting to lose confidence.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**A/N: Please take note of the following:**

"Humans talking"

_'Thinking'_

_ "Animals talking"_

**Thank you Starslight21, You have rekindled my hope!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but the plot and OC's of this story IS MINE!**

**-x-**

Chapter 4

The cat masked ANBU had led us to an apartment complex then showed us to a door on the ground floor and gave me the keys. After that he told us the directions to the small forest and warned us to be careful and not to wander into the training grounds, saying that they are clearly marked by stones or signs with numbers, I assured him that we'll stay away and thanked him for his help then entered the apartment and after a quick goodbye closed and locked the door.

The place couldn't really be called big, but it wasn't too small either. There was enough room to move around, with a nice kitchen in one corner and a bed by the wall in the other corner. There was a nightstand with a small lamp on top next to the bed. The best thing about the place was the big window directly opposite the bed. I could see the treetops over some of the buildings.

"Wow, it really is close to the forest. What do you think?" I turned to Rin, "Should we turn in early for tonight then go and introduce ourselves to the wildlife before heading to that Academy place tomorrow morning?"

He thought about it for a moment and looked out the window to the setting sun, before answering, _"Yes, perhaps it would be better to greet them tomorrow. We can't have you stumbling around and lost in the darkness again."_ He dodged the pillow I aimed for his head, "Hey, I already told you that wasn't on purpose! I was dead tired and forgot which way to go for just a moment." He smirked, _"Yeah, so much so that I finally found you asleep in a ditch half a kilometre away from where we were headed after three hours of searching. Oh, did I mention that it was in the opposite direction!"_ I sighed, _'Oh boy, he's never going to let that one go.'_ Aloud I said, "Look, whatever. Let's just go to sleep, okay?" He grumbled some incoherent things, but I clearly caught a _'fine'_ in there somewhere.

I quickly lay the blanket out on the floor beside the bed then, after removing my clothes, changed into my wolf form and curled up next to my wolf brother.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

It was loud and disorientating with almost all the children talking at once.

Cat had helped us to the right room in the Academy then after explaining the situation to the teacher left us with him.

We were now standing in front of the class, waiting for them to quiet down. Even Rin pulled his ears back, showing his discomfort from all the noise. It only took a few moments for everyone to notice us and their loud laughter turned into hushed whispers before going completely quiet.

The teacher cleared his throat, "Okay, good morning class. As you can see we have a new student. He'll be joining you from today onwards. He's new to the village, so I want everyone to try and make him feel welcome, understand?" The children answered in a chorus of "Yes Iruka-sensei!" He then placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and looked at me, "You can go sit down now. You may take any empty seat you want."

Looking around, I found that most of the empty seats were at the back, but someone was already there. From what I could see it was a blond boy with blue eyes. He was looking at me over the top of his folded arms so I couldn't make much else out, except that he had green goggles on his head. Making my choice, I took the seat next to the dividing line opposite him. That way Rin would have enough space to lie down.

The teacher bought me some books and writing utensils. Then, after explaining which book was for what and saying he wants to talk with me after school, he started the day's lesson.

Throughout his lecture on how jutsu's work I made sure to pay attention and take notes, but couldn't help noticing that the blond boy would glance in my direction every now and then. The first time I caught him doing this I was quite surprised to see that he had three whisker-like marks on each cheek. After that I couldn't help but wonder if that was the reason that he was sitting alone; because he was different.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Once the teacher told us that we may take a half hour break to do with what we want, I took my notebook and headed outside. While looking for a climbable tree I found a tree with a swing. _'Hmm, that could work.'_ Gripping the book with my teeth, I climbed onto the piece of wood. Then, after making sure I was balanced, I jumped and grabbed the branch, swinging myself perfectly to land on top. I quickly climbed to a hidden branch, made myself comfortable and started going through the notes I had so far. Meanwhile Rin had found himself a spot behind some bushes to take a nap.

Five minutes later one of the birds I shared the tree with suddenly called out, _"Naruto! Naruto is coming!"_ I looked up to the small bird, "Who?" He came to land on the edge of my book to answer, _"The One Who Stands Alone,"_ then flew back to his friends.

Looking down I saw the blonde boy coming to sit on the swing. He didn't seem to have noticed me and there was no real reason to reveal myself to him so I left him alone, continuing with my reading.

-x-

Seeing that Bisuto didn't mind the strange boy, I shifted into a more comfortable position, but kept my eye on him.

The marks on his cheeks made it seem like he had whiskers and there was just something about him that made me think about a fox, though I couldn't place my paw on why…

-x-

We were in the small forest once more. Almost a month has passed since starting at the Academy and I was making good progress in catching up with my age group.

I may look like a 10-11 year old, but in actuality I'm twelve and a half. Of course this meant that I was officially the shortest kid in my class. Though I don't mind; I've always been small for my age. That's why animals would call me Little One. Add to that dark chocolate brown hair that had a bronze shine in the sunlight and grey-green eyes and I stood out like a sore thumb among the villagers.

It was Saturday and we decided to take a bit of a load of. I was playing tag with the squirrels, enjoying the feel of the wind going through my fur as I jumped from tree to tree. Rin on the other hand was keeping a watchful look out by my clothes.

Seeing Long Tail, the squirrel in charge of the juveniles for today, stop I went to see what's wrong. She, along with the rest of the young ones, was looking down to a horribly familiar scene. Three big civilian teenagers were chasing someone. Upon closer inspection I saw it was that boy, Naruto. "Come back here you little freak!" Knowing what would happen because of past experiences; I made a spur of the moment decision and quickly went back to Rin. Not even bothering to become human first, I changed directly into a wolf. _"Come Rin, We have to go help a kindred spirit!_" Reaching our destination we saw that they had managed to corner the blonde, "Why are you chasing me? I didn't do anything wrong!" The one in the middle smirked, "Easy. We have to teach you freak where your place is. Hmph, walking around the village like you own the place."

They began to close in. _"Rin don't bite them. We just have to…scare them, understand?"_ He nodded then slunk of while I moved to approximately behind the boy. After spotting Rin in the right position, I lifted my head and started a howl. Five seconds later Rin started his own. I quickly moved to another spot and howled again just as Rin stopped. Then he did the same. We did the pattern one more time then ended our howls at the same time. "W-what was that? Kaito I don't like this…let's get outta here!" The biggest one's friends tried to persuade him, but he wouldn't hear of it. "Shut up you babies! It's obviously some sort of trick that the brat is trying to pull-" He was cut off when one of the lackeys shook his shoulder, "Kaito, l-look." He pointed to where we came from the bush behind the tree that Naruto was pressed up against. "What are you so scared of their just a couple of mutts!" We charged. We weaved around them; barking, snarling, growling and snapping at them, but never actually touching them. After about a minute of this we finally allowed them to 'escape' while running after them and snapping at their heels. When the leader started shouting, "Mommy help me!" we went back to see how the blonde was doing without revealing ourselves. He seemed a bit shaken, but other than that he was fine. Deciding it was safe to leave I went back to my clothes, changed back, got redressed and headed straight for our apartment.

I almost fell asleep before reaching the bed from exhaustion. _'Dang, I forgot how taxing it is to do a direct change.'_ That was all I managed to think before my eyes closed.

-x-

Back in his office the Hokage sat back from watching the events in the crystal ball, letting out a chuckle. "How interesting, seems like young Naruto is finally going to make a friend."

-x-

From that day on I somehow subconsciously took interest in the blonde boy. I soon realised that he was always alone. No one sat next to him in class and during break time he would sit dejectedly on the swing, watching the other children play. He would also act like a clown a lot of times when he knew others were watching him to grab their attention with a big goofy grin plastered on his face. Though it didn't fool me, for I now knew what the bird meant on the first day I saw him. He didn't have anyone; he stood alone.

I thought back to my days in the orphanage with Momo who kept me company, and the weeks after my family was killed, during which the wolves helped me overcome my sadness; it meant the world to me that they were there during those times. _'Even now, with Rin, I'm not completely alone. I may not know the whole story, but no one deserves this kind of loneliness.'_

I watched the boy on the swing carefully, ready for any reaction as I climbed to the lowest branch above him. "Hallo, your…Naruto, right?" He jumped up, looking around frantically, "Where are you, who's there?"

I called, "Above you," only to jump down when he looked up. "Hey, your that new kid…umm, what's your name again?" I held my hand for him, "Bisuto, Bisuto Tsukai." He took my hand, "Nice to meet you," he flashed his big grin, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage! Believe it!"

-x-

**Pretty please, ice cream with a cherry on top, please tell me what you think!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**A/N: Please take note of the following:**

"Humans talking"

_'Thinking'_

_"Animals talking"_

**See? This is what happens when a writer has WAY TO MUCH time on their hands; they spit out chapter after chapter like a machine. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but the plot and OC's of this story IS MINE!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

_One and a half years later_

"You ready?"

I nodded. We had planned and practiced for days and now it was finally time to put all of it to the test.

"Okay, there he just left the building. Here," he held the rope out away from the balloon and I carefully took it with both feet then flew off towards my target.

'_Okay a little bit more and…RELEASE!'_

The water balloon hit its mark with a satisfying _SPLASH _right on the point of the Hokage's hat. Even better than that were the surprised shouts of the people around him which accompanied the sudden wetness.

I quickly flew back to where Naruto was watching the mayhem we caused, but I made sure to do so in a roundabout way in case someone had noticed me, then made quick work of getting back in my clothes. "Haha, they're running around like ants." I nodded, "Your right. It's strange how often people forget to look up." "Bisuto! You just jinxed it!"

"There! I found them!" One of the civilians pointed to our hiding place.

"Dang, start running!"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

We fell down on the soft grass of a clearing, exhausted and laughing.

"That was great, definitely one of our better pranks!" I smiled and sat up, "Yep, definitely. Now, how about we get some training in before the Hokage sends an ANBU to get us?"

"Right," then he came at me. We exchanged blows, neither of us gaining ground, but then I lost my balance. He saw the opening and kicked my left leg out from under me, causing me to topple over. He quickly pulled my arms behind my back, "Finished yet?"

I saw some movement to the right and grinned, "Not quite." He realised his mistake and started to turn, but it was too late as Rin tackled him to the ground then promptly started licking him.

"Okay Naruto now I'm finished. Do you give?"

"I give! I give! Just get him of me," he managed to say between fits of laughter. I also laughed, but motioned for Rin to stop. Just then the very familiar masked Cat appeared, "Come on boys, he's waiting."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Naruto, Bisuto I am very disappointed in you. With the graduation exam coming up you should be studying, not dropping water balloons on the Hokage!"

We stood before our sensei with downcast faces. From the corner of my eye I noticed Naruto forming a hand seal. _'What, he's going to use THAT jutsu, but it's not perfected yet!' _A sudden cloud of smoke covered Naruto, but when it cleared a busty blonde girl with a lanky figure and a skimpy bikini stood in his place. She walked up to the stammering man who's our teacher and clasped her hands under her chin, looked up to him with big blue eyes and a slight pout then asked in a sweet voice, "Oh but Iruka-sensei, won't you pretty, pretty please forgive us?" She fluttered her eyelashes and he fell to the ground. Creeping closer I saw that he was unconscious and had a nose bleed.

I nudged him with my foot, "Is he gonna be okay?" Naruto changed back with another _poof_ of smoke, "Yeah, he'll be fine. Let's get outta here before he wakes up!"

We ran back to his apartment where, once inside, I caught him in a headlock, "You sly fox! Why didn't you tell me that you had finally figured that sexy jutsu out?" He tried to flip me over himself which caused us to fall on the floor. "Hey, that's it!" He suddenly jumped up, "From now on it will be called the Sexy Jutsu. Believe it!"

After preparing some instant ramen, we settled in for dinner. I noticed that Naruto was unusually quiet, "A penny for your thoughts?" There were a few more moments of silence before he answered, "It's about what Iruka-sensei said earlier. He's right you know, with the graduation exam so close the time for these games are coming to an end. Once we're accomplished ninja there won't be time for kid's stuff with all the awesome missions we'll be doing. So, I've been thinking, we need to end our pranking days with something BIG, something that everyone will notice."

We ate in silence for another few moments. _'Something big that everyone will notice…I know!'_

"Naruto I got the perfect target! We'll just have to figure out exactly _what_ we're going to do…"

* * *

><p>A green streak dashed through the street, with an orange one right behind it. "Naruto get back here…when I get my hands on you!" More dark streaks rushed by, accompanied by more shouts, "You two crossed the line this time! Hey, hold on!"<p>

Two boys sat hidden in an alley behind some dustbins. One was wearing an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders area as well as around the waist. A white swirl with a tassel was on the left sleeve and a red swirl on the back, it also had a large white collar. He wore orange pants, blue sandals and, to finish the look, green goggles as a headband. He had bright, blue eyes and blond, spiky hair with strange whisker like marks on his cheeks.

The other boy could have been his opposite; he wore a forest green zip-up hoodie with a white loose-fitting shirt underneath and black cargo shorts. He had longish dark brown, almost chocolate coloured hair that came to just below his shoulders, although he kept it tied up with a thin black ribbon at the back of his head. His eyes were as grey as storm clouds with a distinct greenish tint around the edges.

The brown haired boy leaned back against the wall with a relieved sigh while the blonde started laughing, "Hahaha, that was to easy." A shadow fell over them from behind, "Oh yeah Naruto." Both boys jumped up in fright, "Aaahh!" "Where'd you come from Iruka-sensei?" Asked the green clad boy in shock. The blonde one pointed an accusing finger to the man, "What are you doing here?" The man looked at them angrily, "No what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in class!"

* * *

><p>We sat tied up in front of the rest of our class, Iruka-sensei giving us a lecture, "I'm at the end of my rope boys. You failed the graduation test last time and Naruto the time before that. Tomorrow you've got another chance and now you're messing up again."<p>

I bowed my head in shame, but Naruto merely turned his head away from our scolding teacher, "Hm!"

Iruka- sensei was clearly upset by his reaction, "Fine because you missed it, everyone will review the transformation jutsu!"

The whole class groaned, "AAWWW!" I shook my head with a sigh, _'Naruto…'_

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I quickly sprang to attention as I saw Iruka-sensei enter the room. There was a feel of excitement in the air and everyone was extra quiet after the morning greetings.

"We will now start the final exam. When you're name is called, proceed to the testing room. The final test will be on," he paused for a moment to check on his clipboard, "the clone jutstu."

I froze,_ 'Oh no, that's Naruto's worst technic!'_

Looking to my left, I wasn't all that surprised to see that Naruto was shaking and chewing his nails in worry.

We weren't called in any particular order and the students who finished were told to head to another room. By some strange stroke of luck Naruto and I were the last remaining two in the classroom. The door to the class opened to reveal the assistant teacher, Mizuki.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

He made to stand, but I placed my hand on his shoulder, looking him in the eyes, "I know you can do this. Believe it!" He relaxed slightly, "Hey, that's my line, but thanks." He gave me a thumbs up with his big smile, "good luck," then left the room after Mizuki-sensei. I sighed and folded my arms to rest my chin on them, "No Naruto, you need all the luck you can get."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I wasn't too worried about the test; after all, I could make at least four correct clones. No, Naruto was my main concern and I couldn't stop thinking of him as I walked down the hall to the testing room._ 'Who knows, maybe he did it this this time. He managed one perfect clone the last time we practised…'_

That glimmer of hope took a blow when I entered the room and saw that there were two neatly folded forehead protectors left on the desk where the teachers sat. _'No, think positive! It's possible that another student failed.'_

I was taken from my thoughts by Iruka-sensei, "Okay Bisuto, show us what you can do."

I nodded my head in determination, "right," then started to channel and focus my chakra. Ten seconds and a _poof_ of smoke later, I was surrounded by five clones. Four of them were exact copies of me, but the fifth had completely grey eyes and black hair.

Mizuki and Iruka-sensei studied them for a few moments then conversed with each other before seemingly coming to a decision. Mizuki-sensei asked me to let the jutsu go and after the clones dispersed they talked some more before Iruka-sensei wrote on the paper in front of him. He then held one of the forehead protectors out to me, "Congratulations, you pass! Wear it with pride."

I took it carefully, almost afraid it was going to disappear, and admired the swirling leaf symbol etched into the shiny metal plate. I was snapped from my thoughts by a slight cough, "Ahem, you can go now." I looked up to see Iruka-sensei smiling down at me. "Oh! Um, right," I did a quick bow, "thank you Iruka-sensei. Goodbye Mizuki-sensei." After that I quickly left the room to go find Naruto.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I finally found him sitting on the swing, looking at the rest of the students who passed who were talking amongst themselves or with their parents. Rin was sitting next to him.

I ran up to them, waving my forehead protector in victory, "Look Naruto, Rin, I passed! Where's yours Naruto?"

He didn't even look up, instead he started adjusting his goggles, I didn't make it." I blanched, _'Great job Bisuto.'_ Putting a hand on his shoulder I asked, "What happened? You did great yesterday." He still wouldn't look at me, "I was so stressed out that my clone came out looking pathetic. If you don't mind, I want to be alone for a while."

I nodded my head in understanding, but turned my head back to him before leaving with Rin "Tell you what; meet me at Ichiraku Ramen tonight. My treat."

He merely gave a small incline of his head as answer.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

It was getting late and Naruto still hadn't shown up for our dinner at Ichiraku's. It wasn't like him to pass up the opportunity off free ramen, even in the foulest of moods.

To sum it up: I was worried.

Deciding to check on him, I headed for his apartment, but he wasn't there. After that I started to look for him at all our usual hang out spots. I even went so far as to change into my wolf form and sniff around the whole village with Rin for any fresh scents, but we both came up with nothing.

Correction: I was _very_ worried.

I knew how some of the villagers acted towards him and was afraid that something might have happened. Realizing that this was a very serious problem, I headed for the Hokage tower. _"The Third will know what to do!_"

I very nearly scratched his office door down in urgency. Then realizing that I was still a wolf, quickly changed back and put on the shorts I was previously carrying around in my mouth. I was just in time as the door opened to reveal an amused Third Hokage, "Yes?"

I managed to speak while panting for breath, "Lord Hokage Naruto's missing! We were supposed to meet for dinner at Ichiraku Ramen, but he didn't show up. I've looked _everywhere_, but I can't find him! Now I'm starting to fear for the worst."

I had regained my breath as I talked and was now looking at the Hokage, waiting for his reaction. He merely took a puff on his pipe with a sigh then motioned for me to enter before closing and locking the door.

"Lord Hokage?" I looked around in confusion, noticing what seemed to be a crystal ball on his desk.

"Please take a seat," I did as he asked and watched as he did the same. "Bisuto do you remember Iruka's lesson on the battle between the Kyuubi and the Fourth Hokage?"

The question caught me of guard, "Uh, I think so. The Kyuubi was this big bad fox that wanted to destroy the village, right? The Fourth Hokage kicked its butt, but died in the process. What does that have to do with Naruto being gone?"

"Everything. You must promise to never tell anyone else what I'm about to tell you. This is top secret information, understand?" I was taken aback by his sudden grim tone and could only nod and stammer, "Y-yes sir."

He seemed satisfied and bowed his head slightly, "What you were taught in class was the revised version. This is what really happened:

Twelve years ago a Nine-tailed Fox suddenly appeared. Its tails lashed out, smashing mountains and sending tidal waves crashing to the shores. The ninja rose up to defend their villages. One shinobi faced the Nine-tailed Fox in mortal combat. He sacrificed his life to capture the beast and seal it in a human body. This ninja was known as the Fourth Hokage.

The Fourth's last request was that the child he sealed the Kyuubi into would be seen as a hero, for it was he who truly saved the village.

Unfortunately not everyone honoured this request and some sought to take their anger at the Kyuubi out on the innocent child. Thus I made the unbreakable law that no one was to talk about it in the hope that the newer generation would live in peace with their ignorance."

He paused for few moments to take a puff on his pipe while I let this information sink in.

I frowned, "but Lord Hokage, I still don't see what it has to do with Naruto-" I then caught on to the true meaning of his words and suddenly all those whispered comments and insults made sense.

"It's Naruto," I whispered in shock.

The Hokage nodded, "Yes, Naruto is the jailor of the Nine-tailed Fox, Kyuubi."

I looked up again after some thought, "What about Naruto, does he know?"

"He didn't, but something happened tonight which caused him to find out. The reason he didn't show up for your meeting is because someone tried to use his ignorance and tricked him into stealing the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. However, Iruka Umino caught on to the plot and managed to intercept the traitor. But it was too late; he had already told Naruto a twisted truth about the circumstances of his birth. This in turn forced Iruka to tell him what really happened. In the end Naruto stopped the traitor. You have no need to worry, Naruto's with your sensei right now taking a nap and you will see him again tomorrow. I suggest you go to bed now. After all tomorrow's a big day and you'll need your rest."

"Right. Thank you for telling me Lord Hokage. I promise his secret is safe with me."

After that I did as he suggested and went straight back to my apartment. Once there I told Rin everything the Hokage told me; from the sealing of the Kyuubi to Naruto winning against the traitor.

Rin shook his head, _"The stupidity of some humans never seizes to amaze me."_

I merely nodded then went to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review<strong>


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**A/N: Please take note of the following:**

"Humans talking"

_'Thinking'_

_"Animals talking"_

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but the plot and OC's of this story IS MINE!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 6<p>

Opening my eyes, I looked directly into the smiling faces of my family. I sat up slowly, swinging my legs of my bed and took the picture frame from my nightstand for a closer look.

While studying the photo I couldn't help but think back to the day it was taken.

**Flashback**

My dad was helping me go through my basic fighting stances in the back yard when we heard the front door slam open, "Mom! Dad! I got promoted! I'm a chuunin!" Daddy quickly went back into the house.

I followed the commotion to the living room. Mommy and Daddy were saying congratulations to Big Brother for becoming a chuunin. He was now also wearing the same green jacket as our parents. Other than that I couldn't see anything different.

This confused me, "What do you mean Big Brother's a chuunin? What is it? He still looks the same to me."

Mommy laughed and picked me up, "It means your brother's a better ninja now."

I shook my head, "Na-uh! Big Brother's the best ninja out there! Along with Mommy and Daddy. Then when I'm a ninja, we'll all kick the bad guys' butts together!"

All of them laughed at that, "What? I'm serious!" Big Brother took me from Mommy and put me on his shoulders, "You've still got a bit of growing up to do before you can become a ninja Little Tsukai."

"Aw maan."

Daddy spoke up, "Let's go celebrate the promotion and Bisuto's future 'but kicking' days at the festival."

"Yippy!"

**End flashback**

The photo showed me as a five year old, still sitting on my brother's shoulders. My arms were folded on top of his head with my chin resting on them. I was smiling brightly. My brother was caught in a laugh. He was holding my leg with his right hand while flashing the victory sign with his left. Our mom and dad standing to the left and right of him respectively, each had a hand on my back to stop me from falling off. My adoptive mother had a warm, loving smile while my adoptive father's smile was proud, though you could still see the love in his eyes.

'_We were so happy back then,'_ I was startled to see that I had started crying when teardrops fell onto the protective glass.

Rin noticed and licked the tears from my cheeks, _"You miss them, don't you?"_ I sniffed lightly, "Yeah. I wish they were here. I wish they could see me now, they'd be so proud."

Rin went and got something from the top drawer of the nightstand and dropped it in my lap. _"They're always with you."_

I knew what it was, but opened the neatly folded cloth anyway to reveal an old, battered metal rectangular plate with lightning-like marks etched in the middle. It looked both better and worse than when I first found it. Better because I attempted to clean the scorch marks shortly after taking it. Worse because of all the weather and fingering it had to go through during my travels.

My brother's forehead protector.

"_As long as you don't forget them, they never truly leave."_

I clutched at the cool metal as I enveloped my wolf brother in a hug and whispered, "Thank you."

Refolding the material, I placed it in my back pack.

After eating and making myself presentable I was just about to walk out the door when Rin stopped me, _"Bisuto aren't you forgetting something?"_

"Huh?" Turning around I found my own new forehead protector still lying on the corner of the table where I put it the previous day.

"Oh yeah!" I quickly grabbed it and after some thought decided to tie it around my neck. Once that was done we left the apartment for our usual training spot, knowing that Naruto was probably already there.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As expected Naruto was there, though I was confused as to exactly what he was doing.

There were two paint containers next to him and a full-length mirror was propped up against a tree. He was doing some weird poses in front of it.

"Naruto, I thought our pranking days are over and how on earth did you manage to carry that mirror all the way out here?"

"I used my shadow clones to carry it for me and the paint isn't for a prank," he turned around, "What do ya think?" I very nearly had a heart attack from shock. His skin was white and there were funny red lines all over his face. "We're having our identification photos taken today and I wanted something that showed how awesome a ninja I am."

I saw it as he said it; he was wearing the Leaf headband.

I was stumped, "Okay…firstly, I'm happy for you, but please explain to me how you're wearing Konoha's forehead protector if you failed and secondly, what the heck are shadow clones?"

He rubbed the back of his head, looking a little nervous, "Well, um, Mizuki tried to trick me into betraying the village by taking this giant scroll thingy yesterday night, but Iruka-sensei and me stopped him. I learned this neat new jutsu from the scroll that I used to beat Mizuki. Iruka-sensei was impressed by what I did and then graduated me."

He paused a moment to adjust the headband, "I'm now an official ninja of Konoha, believe it!"

"That's great, but you still didn't tell me what a shadow clone is."

"Check this out. It's the new technic I learned from the scroll," he then proceeded to place his fingers in a cross. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The cry was followed by several _poofs_ of smoke which cleared to reveal three perfect Naruto replicas, even down to the face paint.

"Amazing! You have got to teach me this. They actually look like solid clones and not just illusions."

He laughed and flashed his trademark grin, though it looked strange with the face paint, "Sure thing. Now let's go before we're late for the photos!" He told the clones to take the mirror and paint back to his apartment then we started for the Academy.

* * *

><p>The routine changed completely over the course of the week.<p>

Now instead of going to the Academy and pulling pranks, they spent their days sparring or refining their own respective technics.

As promised Naruto taught Bisuto how to make real copies of himself and he was quite good at it, but he couldn't do it as well as the blonde boy.

I wasn't happy. Bisuto had started going with some crows, saying something about them being a good form choice, because they were common.

'_Hmph, I can't agree more!'_

They continuously ask me the same bothersome questions and mock the way I look, seemingly unable to grasp that I'm not a dog. Plus the way they keep getting side-tracked by anything shiny or scraps of food is ridiculous.

"_I just don't know what Bisuto sees in them,"_ I grumbled as I walked away from another mocking session.

I bumped into someone while not paying attention with my muttering. I mumbled a quick apology and went the other way. Only to stop when a youngster's voice called out, _"Kiba what kind of dog is he? He smells funny."_ "I don't know Akamaru," came a reply, "he kinda looks like Kuromaru, but something's off."

Something inside me snapped and whirling around, I snarled, _"I AM NOT A DOG!"_

A white puppy with long, black ears cowered before me, but my view of him was quickly obstructed by a pair of legs. Looking up I saw a boy who seemed to be Naruto's age. I couldn't make out his hair colour, but he had the same marks as the woman who cared for me among the dogs.

"HEY! You leave Akamaru alone! He's just a puppy and besides he was only asking! If you're not a dog then what are you 'cause you sure look like one to me."

I bared my teeth, _"Why you-"_

"Enough."

Even though it was spoken quietly, I stopped short. Looking down the way I originally came from, I was greeted with the sight of Bisuto in nothing but his black shorts with his arms crossed in front of him. He didn't seem too happy.

"_But he-"_

"But nothing. You know what we were taught about drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves. You especially!"

'_Hm, so that's why you were whispering.'_ His voice rose as he talked and became raspy with an odd undertone to it, in the end it almost sounded like he was cawing out the words.

"_Bisuto it's not-"_

"Apologise then go to the apartment. We'll discuss this tonight."

I wanted to whine, but he gave me a warning look. I turned back to the boy and puppy, _"I'm sorry for coming at you like that; it was misplaced anger."_

The boy didn't seem to know what to say so the puppy stepped forward, _"That's okay, I'm also sorry for what I said. I didn't mean to upset you."_

His words struck a chord in me and I instantly took a liking to him, _"The name's Rin kid and by the way, I'm a wolf."_ After that I shot away like a bolt of lightning.

* * *

><p>My week went by in a blur. I learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu in two days, though I couldn't manage nearly as many as Naruto. The most I've managed to create were eleven.<p>

Then I got the idea that a crow would be a great form to have should I need to be a spy. You could see them all over the Elemental Nations. Unfortunately Rin wasn't too fond of them so I stopped taking him with me to their nests.

Right now I sat with a problem. Whenever I'm learning a new form it takes a while to perfect the change. Either nothing would happen or I'd be stuck with one of that specific animal's characteristics for a while.

I had thought to try the crow again before heading for the Academy and at the moment I was once again almost cawing like one when my voice became too loud.

I caught a glimpse at the clock above the microwave and groaned. _'Oh, well I'm gonna be late anyway so there's no sense in rushing,'_ I thought as I redressed and started for the Academy at a leisurely pace. Maybe if I draw it out long enough me voice will be back to normal once I reach my destination.

I wasn't all that surprised to see Naruto was already there, though I couldn't help but wonder what I'd missed.

Both he and a black haired boy, who I recognised as Sasuke, were rubbing their mouths and gagging as if their lives depended on it. Most of the girls were glaring at Naruto while two were yelling at each other about something to do with a kiss.

I was still looking at the strange scene when Iruka- sensei opened the door and bumped into me, scattering some of his papers. I quickly gathered them up and gave them back, "Sorry Iruka-sensei!" I was glad hear that my voice was indeed normal again.

After that I took a seat behind Naruto, since he was sitting with Sasuke on his left side and a pink haired girl I didn't know on his right side. Rin took his spot by my feet.

Iruka-sensei cleared his throat, "The team assignments are as follow. Please listen carefully; I will not repeat myself..."

'_Oh man, I hope I'll at least be put with someone who can think for themselves, even if it isn't necessarily someone I know."_

"…Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Bisuto Tsukai…"

I couldn't believe my luck with my team placement. You could say Naruto was the first person I met other than the Hokage when I came to the village, I knew him almost too well. All the knowledge I had about Sasuke I could put in four sentences; 1. He's the best in pretty much everything, 2. Naruto's got some sort of rivalry with him, 3. He's from some prestigious Konoha clan and 4. He's the only one left. As for Sakura Haruno…dang, I don't even know how she looks!

'_What am I going to do?'_

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

We've been waiting for hours! The rest of the students' jounin instructors had already come to get them, making us the only ones in the classroom.

I had taken the time to try and get to know my other two teammates…the keyword being _try_.

Turns out that Sakura was the pink haired girl who sat next to Naruto earlier. I managed to introduce myself to her, but other than a little small-talk, she seemed more interested in Sasuke. Said boy only 'hned' whenever I said something to him so I decided to leave him alone and instead turned to Rin for company.

We were busy theorizing about what kind of person this sensei would be and wondering why he/she was late when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Um, excuse me?"

I turned to see the girl looking at me a little nervously, "Yes?"

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, it's just I was wondering how your able to understand him if you're not from the Inuzuka clan."

"Oh is that all? He he, "I rubbed my neck, "I actually understand all animals, not just canines. Birds, rodents, frogs and even snakes; you name them!"

Her eyes widened in astonishment, "Wow!"

Seeing that she seemed to have forgotten about the Uchiha for the moment, I decided to keep her attention for a bit longer. "Oh, that's not even the best part. I can transform into any animal as long as I've seen it, with a little practice of course."

She didn't seem to believe me. "What? I'm serious! Here, I'll prove it!"

I removed all my clothes except my boxers as I stood in front of her. _'This will show her! Girls like cute furry animals, right?'_

She stared at me in shock before becoming angry, "Hey! What do you think your do-"

My ears changed first, becoming triangular, moving closer to the top my head and covered in soft fur. I felt my growing tail the same time that I started to shrink. My bone structure repositioned itself and I fell forward onto soft pads. Short grey and black fur sprouted from my skin in a rippling wave down my body. Then lastly my storm-grey and green eyes were exchanged for glowing yellow orbs with black slits.

I neatly stepped from my boxers to go sit by her feet and looked up to her with a soft _mew._

She placed her hands in a sign, trying to release an illusion, but nothing happened. She sunk to her knees, "My teammate just turned into a cat…"

I gave her as smug a look I could muster in my cat form, _"See, I told you so."_ She carefully picked me up to hold me in her folded arms while she scratched me under my chin, "Though I must admit you look cute as a cat." I started to purr in pleasure.

Noticing Naruto fiddling at the door I turned my head to watch what he was doing. He had positioned an eraser block at the top of the door in such a way that it would fall on someone's head when they slid the door open.

Hearing approaching footsteps, I quickly jumped from Sakura's arms. Then, after deftly moving from desk to desk till I reached the one by the door, I leapt up and batted at the top of the eraser with just enough force to knock it down. Unfortunately (depends on how you look at it) it hit Naruto on the head instead.

"Gah, Bisuto what was that for!" He shot me a glare.

I looked at him over my shoulder from where I landed next to the door, _"Wasn't it you who said that the time for kid's games are over?"_

He pouted, "Oh come on! You know I can't understand a word your saying."

I smirked and walked by him towards my clothes, _"I know, I'm just being spiteful."_ It was almost like he caught my meaning as I suddenly found myself staring into his angry face. "Why you-"

I gave him a light scratch on his hand and he threw me into the air from the shock of the sudden pain by reflex. I quickly righted myself to land on my feet on the floor. I was however very surprised to land on silver hair.

"What the…" a hand in a fingerless glove reached for me. Panicking I made a swipe at the exposed fingers. The hand retreated and I jumped down and bolted towards Rin, hiding behind his still lying form. When I peeked over his back, I was greeted by the sight of a silver haired man putting a band aid on his thumb.

The majority of his hair stood up at an odd angle. He wore his forehead protector as an eye patch over his left eye and a mask covered his face up to the bridge of his nose, making it so that only his right eye was visible. He was wearing the green flak jacket of a jounin, but other than that his clothing was a dark navy blue; from the long sleeved shirt and pants to the standard ninja sandals and fingerless gloves. Now that I got a better look at them I also noticed that there were metal plates on the backs of the gloves.

The man finished with his band aid and studied our group. "Aren't there supposed to be four of you?"

I stepped from behind Rin and, while moving forward, said, _"That would be me."_

He gave each of us a quick glance over then seemed to be thinking, "Hmm, how can I put this? My first impression of this group: you're a bunch of idiots. Meet me on the roof." After that he disappeared into a cloud of smoke, not unlike the dismissal of a shadow clone.

Sasuke and Naruto went ahead, but it seemed Sakura decided to keep me company. I made quick work of redressing behind a desk, wanting to spare her the humiliation of seeing a naked boy. I wouldn't have minded all that much, but returning to civilization after six years required that I follow certain procedures and forget about the disregard for privacy I obtained while living in the wild.

"How did you do that?"

I shrugged as we walked up the stairs, "I don't know. I just think of what I want to be and focus my chakra and it happens."

Once we reached the top, I found Sasuke and Naruto sitting on opposite sides of the bench while our jounin sensei was leaning against the railing. Sakura went and sat in the middle so I got Naruto to move over and sat on the right edge. Rin sat on attention beside me, studying the man in front of us.

"Okay now that we're all here, why don't we start by introducing ourselves? You know, name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, that sort of thing."

Sakura raised her hand slightly, "Um sensei, why don't you go first to show us how it's done?"

"Alright, my name is Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and dislike… I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future…never really thought about it. As for my hobbies…I have lots of hobbies."

Sakura looked over to Naruto, "That was totally useless, all he really told us was his name." Naruto responded with a nod, "Ah-huh.""

Our attention was grabbed by Kakashi once again, "Okay your turn. You on the right, you first."

I straightened up, "My name is Bisuto Tsukai. I like spending my days amongst animals. I dislike it when animals aren't treated correctly. My hobbies are running with Rin, flying and meeting new animals. I don't really have a dream anymore, but I want to be strong so that I won't have to rely on others' protection."

He nodded and looked to Naruto, "Okay you next."

"Believe it, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup and I really like the ramen Iruka-sensei got me at the Ichiraku Noodle shop, but I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the noodle cup. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them. And my future dream is, to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody, somebody important!"

"Alright next."

Sakura sat with her hands in her lap. "I'm Sakura Haruno. What I like, ah I mean the person I like is…ah, my hobby is ah…my dream for the future is…" Throughout this she kept throwing glances at Sasuke and gaining a blush, ending with a squeal.

Kakashi asked in a bored tone, "and what do you dislike?"

"Naruto!"

Kakashi looked to Sasuke, "Last one."

Sasuke just sat with a scowl on his face, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

I looked to him from behind Naruto, _'He sounds like I feel towards the ninja who killed my family. That is if I can find them…"_

I was taken from my thoughts by Kakashi, "Good your each unique and you have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."

Naruto was clearly excited, but I quickly interrupted him by raising my hand slightly, "What kind of mission Kakashi-sensei?"

"It's a task that the five of us will do together."

"What, what, what, what!" Naruto was leaning forward in anticipation and I had to grab the hem of his jacket or he would have fallen from the bench onto his face. Pulling him back I said, "Sheesh Naruto, calm down and give the guy a chance." He seemed a bit reluctant, but sat back and kept quiet all the same.

"Thank you. It's a survival exercise."

Sakura looked confused, "I thought we were supposed to have a real mission, not more practice. We already did this stuff at the academy, that's how we got here."

I nodded in agreement, _'She's right, but if that's the case then this should be easy. I have lots of experience in surviving on my own.'_

"This is not like your previous training." He started to chuckle almost darkly and I just knew that I wouldn't like what he was going to say next.

My instincts were proven correct when he next spoke, "Of the 28 graduates who just came here only 10 will actually be accepted as genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words this is a make it or break it pass/fail test and the chance that you'll fail is at least 65%."

'_I knew it,'_ I was starting to get depressed when Naruto jumped up.

"That's crazy! Me and Bisuto worked hard to get here, believe it. What was that graduation test for anyway?"

"Oh that, that was just to select candidates who might become genin, or not. I decide whether you pass or fail. Be at the designated training spot at 5am and bring your ninja gear."

'_Oh no…No, I have to stay positive, I know I can do this. I've improved a lot over the year and Iruka-sensei said I scored above average this time.' _My depression turned to determination and I could see similar looks on the other's faces. _'But if it comes down to it, I'll give my chance to Naruto. He worked harder to get here than me. If I stay behind it just means that I'll have more time to improve.'_

"Oh and you'd best skip breakfast tomorrow, otherwise you might throw up."

'_Okay, now I have a really bad feeling…'_

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The first glimmers of dawn were only just showing in the east when I closed and locked my apartment door. Not that I really minded the early hour; this was actually my usual 'get up 'n go' time.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the meeting place was right by 'my' little forest the previous day. I remembered seeing that particular training ground marker a few times. I wasn't all that surprised to see that I was the first to arrive. After greeting the waking birds, I sat down against a tree to wait.

It wasn't all that long before the rest of my team showed up. I had a sneaky suspicion that Sasuke also woke this early since he was the only one amongst the three that weren't yawning. While Sakura was still merely rubbing her eyes, Naruto looked like he was sleepwalking.

"Hi guys, howzit going?" I waved to them from my spot. My only answer was some incoherent grumbling from Naruto.

"Oh come on Naruto aren't you at least a little happy to see me?" I looked to him with a smile.

"Be quiet. I'm too tired."

I almost said more, but decided to stop messing with him in the end.

The sun was just over the horizon when young voices drew my attention.

"_Bisuto, Bisuto! Are you going to play with us again?"_

Looking up, I found the little squirrels looking to me with hopeful eyes. I got up to go sit on the lowest branch where four gathered on my shoulders and five in my lap.

"Why are you alone, where's Long Tail?"

There were a mixture between giggles and laughs. The young female known as Dark Paws climbed from my lap to the top of my head where she proceeded to look down at me, _"We gave her the slip. She'll never find us this time!"_ At that there was another round of giggles.

"Isn't it a bit early to already be causing trouble Dark Paws? Honestly, one of these days a hawk's going to carry you off for its chicks if you're not careful."

"_Hawk shmawk, they don't scare me! Especially not when you're here to tell them off." _

I gently lifted her from my head to look at her, "But that's just the thing; I'm not always going to be here Dark Paws. Just promise me you'll be careful and you're the oldest so you have to look out for the little ones as well, alright?"

"_Alright."_

Giving her a slight pat I said, "Good girl. Now you guys go warn everyone to steer clear off the human's training ground today. Things might get dangerous and I don't want any of the animals getting caught in the action."

"_Right,"_ they then left with a chorus of goodbyes, eager to fulfil they're little 'mission'.

"What was that all about and who's Dark Paws?" Sakura was standing a few feet away, looking up to me.

I chuckled while climbing down, "A little lady who's got a knack for sticking her nose into places better left alone and causes trouble for everyone who knows her. I once prevented her from falling into a nettle bush and since then she been having a bit of a squirrel crush on me, though I'm not into interspecies relationships. These squirrels are Japanese squirrels while I'm a Eurasian red squirrel. My kind is a little rarer to find in these parts, but we're here all the same."

I looked to her to see her shocked reaction, "Wha…you mean you…that's just gross!"

I started laughing, so much so that I bent over, clutching my stomach. "You should see your face!" I looked up in time to dodge a fist that would have left me with a nasty bump on the head. After that she stormed back to stand with the ever silent Sasuke.

Our sensei finally showed up hours later and judging by the sun I'd have to say it was maybe 11am.

"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto shouted at him with raised fists. Though I wasn't as outspoken as them, I also made myself known, "Yeah sensei, why did you keep us waiting like that?" _'I could have gotten my crow form mastered by now.'_

"I'm sorry, you see this black cat crossed my path-"

"Stop lying sensei. I personally now all twenty cats and thirteen kittens in this village and there's not a single completely black one out there. So rather say something more believable like you were too busy reading a book and lost track of time."

He eyed me in interest, "How did you know?"

"Oh a little birdy told me over breakfast about three hours ago and Rin went to look for you about four hours ago."

He crossed his arms, "Didn't I tell you to skip breakfast?"

"Yes you did, but you also said that we're going to do some sort of survival exercise. Now I may not know what you have planned, but the years I spent in the wild taught me that you need food for energy and without energy you can't fight back. Plus an empty stomach is a distraction you can't afford. So I ate an apple."

"Hmm," he seemed thoughtful for a while, "well let's get started, shall we?"

We followed him to three thick training posts where he placed an alarm clock that showed it was five minutes till eleven o'clock.

"The alarm is set to go off at noon," he took three silver bells held together by red string from his pocket, "Your goal is to get one of these before that happens. Those who manage to get them will pass and get lunch, but the one who fails will be tied to a post, watch as the others eat their lunch and be sent back to the academy. Do you understand?"

"Yes sensei!"

"Alright, just one last bit of advice; you won't succeed if you don't come at me with the intent to kill. Begin!"

* * *

><p>We ran from the clearing with Bisuto leading the way among the trees.<p>

I soon saw we were headed for one particular tree with a hollowed out space hidden in the upper branches; the tree he picked as squirrel to store his clothes in.

"_What's the plan?"_ I watched as he removed his back pack and undressed.

"You know how I didn't train yesterday and made sure to eat a big dinner and sleep early?" I nodded. He folded the clothes and placed his new shoes in the back pack before climbing into the tree to hide his possessions.

"I was conserving my energy. Chances are I'm going to have to do a few direct changes to get through this 'test' and I don't want to pass out from chakra exhaustion. Though I'm going to be pretty dang tired after this."

With that said he proceeded to turn into his wolf form after climbing back down. He was almost completely white, with a light dusting of silvery grey fur along his back, shoulders and forehead, forming a darker stripe on his muzzle.

"_Come on; let's go find Naruto and the others. I may have a plan."_

A sudden scream ran through the forest. _"That was Sakura!"_

We ran in the direction the scream came from; dodging the trees while sticking to the shadows of the underbrush.

We found the girl lying unconscious among the trees. I looked around for possible dangers while Bisuto went to her, _"It's alright I think she just fainted. Something must have scared her."_ I got a whiff of something different and looked up to see the silver haired man looking down at us.

"_Bisuto look!"_ He looked up just in time to see the man jump away with a small wave of his hand.

I looked back to Bisuto, _"Should I follow him?"_

"_No we have to take care of Sakura first."_ He licked her hands till she started to stir and sit up.

"Huh, what happened…Oh Sasuke!" She then proceeded to jump up and run in a seemingly random direction, ignoring us completely. We walked in a different direction before hearing her scream again, running after her.

* * *

><p>She was once again passed out on the ground, but this time I could see the reason why.<p>

Sasuke was buried neck deep in the ground, making it look like he was only a head. _"What happened to you?"_

Seemingly catching my drift he answered, "Kakashi got me with a jutsu. Now please help me out."

I looked to Rin, _"Dig him out then get Sakura up. Try to keep them here. I'm going to find Naruto and bring him back here."_ With that said I became a woodpecker and took to the sky.

I didn't have to look far. He was still in the open field; hanging upside down from a lone tree by some rope. I flew up in front of his face,_ "You just can't stay out of trouble without me, can you?"_

I landed on the branch that the rope was tied to and became a squirrel with a reddish brown coat and white underbelly. My ears were slightly pointed with tufts of fur standing up from the ends, making them seem longer.

Running down the rope, I started gnawing on the rope around his ankle. "What? Wait!" Too late. The rope snapped, causing Naruto to fall on his back. I jumped down to land on his chest.

"_Quick, follow me."_ Running away a bit, I turned around to make sure he was coming. Seeing that he got the idea I carried on, pausing every once in a while to make sure he doesn't lose sight of me.

We reached the others in no time. Rin was sitting in front of Sasuke and Sakura, giving a slight growl when Sasuke tried to move away.

"Oh hey guys! What's going on?" Naruto waved to them.

Sasuke kept scowling at Rin, "Why don't you ask the animal boy?"

I moved behind Rin, _"Please stand up." _He did as I asked and I changed back, successfully hiding my privates from Sakura with Rin's body.

"Okay look, I have an idea, but I'm going to need help. I'm willing to bet that you guys went at sensei with your biggest technics and they failed, right?" I received two nods. "Well I'm thinking instead of going big, I'll be going small…"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I watched from the tree line as my teammates stepped from the shadows onto the open field. Our sensei was reading his book again and only threw them a slight glance, "Oh, making a last stand are we?"

Naruto called out, "Believe it!" And with that they charged.

Naruto immediately made a dozen shadow clones while running. The bunch of Naruto's reached him at the same time, throwing punches and kicks. Kakashi was blocking them with ease and even dispelled a few, but he didn't seem to notice that Naruto's movements were herding him in a certain direction.

The last two clones dispelled themselves on either side of the man, causing his view to be blocked by smoke. Feeling approaching heat, he jumped back in time to avoid Sasuke's Grand Fireball. Only to land in a trap set by Sakura. He dodged the shuriken, but three kunai hit him in the back, sending him into a cloud of smoke with a log clattering down in his place.

He was very close to our destination now, but not completely close enough yet.

Sasuke charged at him this time, engaging a taijutsu spar, pushing him closer. We took this chance to run from the trees opposite the lonely one, with me holding onto Rin's neck fur for dear life.

I jumped to the tree as we passed while Rin carried on to barrel into Kakashi from the side when Sasuke moved away. The sneak attack took him completely by surprise and he bent over slightly as the wind was knocked out of him. He stumbled back into my range, catching his breath quicker than I would have liked.

He surveyed the three genin and wolf surrounding him with his back to the tree and I made my move.

I jumped from the lowest branch to land on his shoulder. He turned his head to look at me, but I was already scurrying diagonally down his back to reach the hip where the bells were tied. I bit through one's string and stuffed the bell in a cheek pouch before his hands grabbed at me, but I was already on the move again. He almost got me once or twice, but every time he got to close for comfort I bit him, causing the hand to flinch away.

I managed to get the last two and ran down his pant leg and behind Rin. I then proceeded to give Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura each a bell before jumping onto Rin's back and changing back. "What do you say about that sensei?"

His visible eye closed with the creases of a smile.

"You pass!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: How's THAT for a good chapter ending! :D**

**Please review.**


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